Mexican boycott of U.S. seen to have little effect

Mark Stevenson, The Associated Press

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, May 2, 2006

MEXICO CITY -- The boycott of U.S. businesses dubbed "A Day Without Gringos," aimed at supporting migrants in the United States, appears to have had little impact, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico said Tuesday.

Monday's protests were timed to coincide with "the Great American Boycott" in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of immigrants stayed away from jobs and schools across the country.

"Even though we don't have conclusive numbers, I think there wasn't a lot of negative effect," chamber President Larry Rubin said from Washington, where he and other business leaders are lobbying for comprehensive immigration reform. "We basically ... think it was more symbolic."

Rubin said the boycott unwisely targeted some of immigrants' best allies -- U.S. corporations that have actively lobbied Congress for immigration reform, including legalization for many of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States.

It was hard to measure the boycott's impact because business is normally reduced on the May Day holiday.

Businesses in Mexico City appeared to be operating as usual Monday, with customers streaming into Wal-Mart stores and McDonald's restaurants -- though there were reports of people passing out leaflets and briefly blocking the entrance to at least one U.S.-owned store.

In some Mexican cities, however, the boycott campaign was felt.

Several hundred pro-boycott protesters in the border city of Tijuana blocked traffic on a bridge leading into the United States, waving flags and shouting slogans and forcing many drivers to turn back. The action converted the world's busiest border crossing into an empty parking lot for about two hours.

In the central city of Toluca, 35 miles west of Mexico City, a group of Mazahua Indian women entered a McDonald's on Monday with homemade food, encouraging customers to eat it instead of ordering fast-food fare.

The Mazahuas managed to persuade many of the store's customers to leave, or to eat sopes, a traditional Mexican dish.

They also passed out fliers urging customers to support the U.S. immigrant protests.